I can't seem to find a clear answer online so far. Who WROTE 'Dancing With Ma Baby?' I know that Henry Stanley arranged it for the concertina, but is he the originator?

I do have a copy of the music, but I think I remember seeing somewhere that it was not actually written by him -- I'm not sure.

Hi Bellowbelle,

The tune was written by B R Antony.

Regards,

Jeremy

Thanks very much! I am possibly going to play it tomorrow night at an open-mic, and just want to have my facts straight. Though, it's the kind of place where there's apt to be a lot of noise, anyway... doubt they'll here me say it.

I have trouble playing it all the way through without any little slip-up, but that may not be a very big issue -- we'll see. I do have a list of my own stuff, that should be no problem.

I'm visiting the 'younger crowd' for an evening, since my daughter and her husband are hosting it.

Thanks very much! I am possibly going to play it tomorrow night at an open-mic, and just want to have my facts straight. Though, it's the kind of place where there's apt to be a lot of noise, anyway... doubt they'll here me say it.

I have trouble playing it all the way through without any little slip-up, but that may not be a very big issue -- we'll see. I do have a list of my own stuff, that should be no problem.

I'm visiting the 'younger crowd' for an evening, since my daughter and her husband are hosting it.

I guess that "tomorrow" is now yesterday. How did it go?

Never mind little slips-up, I just looked at the book and think it would take me a month to play it at all. Phil does suggest playing it fairly slowly but even so I would need a week to memorise the repeat structure.

Groan... I need to learn that if I hit 'ADD REPLY' it will erase what I just wrote in this box.

Anyway.

Well, it was interesting... I went and I played and I sang, but I will wait until next time to play 'Dancing With Ma Baby.' It's a sports bar, and though The Lazy Dog in Marlborough, Massachusetts is not a bad little place, it IS a bit noisy (my life is quieter than a library, usually), and I was really thrown off by these flashing lights up over the stage, in my face. And, had a headache to start with.

And, there is the task of persuading the crowd that they DO -- yes, they really DO like the concertina! Even if they don't know why!

So, I need to simply work out a few of the mechanical details (and keep my eyes closed while I play, I guess), then I'll give 'Dancing...' a try and let you know how it goes.

They host the open mic every Thursday night, and I'll probably give it another try this next week.

There were guitar players and singers there, last night, and then me. I did a short medley of some of my own compositions, and sang my version of 'Down-Hearted Blues,' which is 'Down-Hearted Blues for Concertina Players.' I don't bother to try to make the concertina sound bluesy in particular, though.

I started out to play 'Dancing...' but it just didn't seem to be flying well, and I think the only way I'm going to handle the noise and the lights is to insist that I be allowed to be very disconnected from the crowd -- to not have to sing or pep talk or say anything amusing or interesting. Just get into my space, etc..

While processing some ICA music requests today, I came across the original Stanley arrangement of this tune - sorry, I couldn't find a duet version Dirge. I haven't posted music like this before, so let's see if it works.

Sorry - no good. If anyone can please tell me at what resolution I need to post a decent copy of some music I would be grateful. I think I may be due for a software upgrade in any case.

That worked fine. The resolution is just right. The only problem is that it needs to be rotated 90 degrees to the right. But to answer your question, an 8.5" x 11" page of music should be easily readable on a computer screen at 72 dpi. For decent printing, it should be 300 dpi, although I have occasionally used 150 dpi and that looks OK if file size is a concern. You have posted the image as about 14" x 18" at 72 dpi, which translates to 8.5" x 11" at about 116 dpi. Better than you need for screen resolution, but it will look a little grainy if printed at 8.5" x 11" (and even grainier at 14" x 18").

The answer to Wendy's question, according to this, appears to be BR Antony, as Jeremy stated above.

Sorry - no good. If anyone can please tell me at what resolution I need to post a decent copy of some music I would be grateful. I think I may be due for a software upgrade in any case.

That worked fine. The resolution is just right. The only problem is that it needs to be rotated 90 degrees to the right. But to answer your question, an 8.5" x 11" page of music should be easily readable on a computer screen at 72 dpi. For decent printing, it should be 300 dpi, although I have occasionally used 150 dpi and that looks OK if file size is a concern. You have posted the image as about 14" x 18" at 72 dpi, which translates to 8.5" x 11" at about 116 dpi. Better than you need for screen resolution, but it will look a little grainy if printed at 8.5" x 11" (and even grainier at 14" x 18").

The answer to Wendy's question, according to this, appears to be BR Antony, as Jeremy stated above.

Edited for typo.

To agree with Dave Barnert and then argue with him (don't really do smilies; put your own in here) your resolution is fine Jeremy, but your orientation is interesting. Most of us think in terms of A4 or whatever: 8.5 by 11 is pretty close given decent margins. When I was involved in digital typesetting, anything below a thousand dots per inch was regarded as "low resolution". We can tolerate less than that but what looks good enough on screen can look poor on paper.

Thanks Bellowbelle. I believe this was the original music that Phil Hopkinson used for his book. It came to the ICA Library fairly recently from the estate of Reuben Shaw, who collaborated with Phil in compiling the anthology.

Thanks also to Roger and David. The original file was 2.09 MB, above the limit of 1.95MB allowed by the c.net software.

My MS picture editor would enable me to compress to a maximum size of 308K (at which stage the image was flipped - apologies). I would like to experiment posting music which can be printed from on-line forums (fora?) such as facebook, but I think I will need to find a different way to compresing and getting the appropriate resolution as you describe.

"Dancing With Ma Baby" has been discussed on this list for many years. (Remember Bruce Boysen? Anybody know whatever happened to him after he announced he was going "off the grid"?)

Anyway, I never saw or heard the music until Jeremy (Ex Libris) posted it here. So my question is this: The music he posted certainly seems to be a concertina arrangement, and is credited to BR Antony. Is this arrangement his? Was it originally written in some other form? Is the arrangement by Henry Stanley that Wendy (Bellowbelle) refers to in the opening post in this thread different?

"Dancing With Ma Baby" has been discussed on this list for many years. (Remember Bruce Boysen? Anybody know whatever happened to him after he announced he was going "off the grid"?)

Anyway, I never saw or heard the music until Jeremy (Ex Libris) posted it here. So my question is this: The music he posted certainly seems to be a concertina arrangement, and is credited to BR Antony. Is this arrangement his? Was it originally written in some other form? Is the arrangement by Henry Stanley that Wendy (Bellowbelle) refers to in the opening post in this thread different?

I don't have in front of me my copy of the printed version, which -- I just now remembered -- I received from Bruce Boysen (... I think?). ( It wasn't until a while later that I started playing it, since reading music (instead of playing by ear) was still quite a new thing. But, I'm quite sure it's all the same. And, Jeremy's photo shows a stamp (lower right) that says "Arranged by Henry Stanley."

Yes, Bruce... Where are you these days? I was wondering!

Anyway... as for playing that music lately, well, I will just have to record it and add it to my website. I simply can't plow through the commotion in a sports bar. (Not that I want dead silence with everyone staring at me -- that's creepy.) I did go play again, a second night, but I still found it rough. I guess if I really want to, I'll try to find some other open mics that might be at more 'bookish' places... some book stores used to have them, but now that everyone has laptops and magic phones, not so much! Ah, well. Not sure I really want to bother, anyway. I think I just wanted my daughter and her husband to be able to say I gave it (open mic night) a whirl.

Edit added.. It's a wonder I got out from under that tackle in the sports bar.... seems like they may have mistaken my concertina for a football! Guffaw!! Ha Ha!! (just kidding...)